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Maintenance

A new version of Hanabi Live has been released and the server is in the process of
loading the new client, which should only take a second or two. Please wait.

Hanabi Live is fan-made and has no affiliation to Antoine Bauza or any of the real-life
publishers of the game. This website is free of charge, has no advertisements, and is
not monetized in any way. If you enjoy playing the game online, then we urge you to
purchase a physical copy of the game, as there is no official online version.

Discord is a voice and text chat application that you can run in a browser.
If the server is down, you can probably find out why in the Hanabi server / chat room.

Welcome!

It looks like you are logging on to Hanabi Live for the first time.
There are some things you should know.

Using the Website

Getting a game going on Hanabi Live should be fairly straightforward:
1) Click on the "Create Game" button in the top navigation bar.
2) Other people join the game by clicking on the icon.
3) Then, you click on the "Start Game" button.

Once the game has started:
1) Play a card by clicking and dragging it to the stacks in the center of the screen.
2) Discard a card by clicking and dragging it to the bottom-right-hand corner.
3) Give a clue by clicking the buttons in the middle of the screen.

For more detailed info, click on the "Help" button on the top navigation bar.

Other Players

Unfortunately, finding quick games with strangers on Hanabi Live is difficult
because the website is mostly used by people who already have a team. You can always
try to join random games with other people, but don't be offended if people don't want
to play with strangers.

Fortunately, Board Game Arena is a
website where you can play many different board games online, including Hanabi. Their
implementation of the game is not as fancy as what Hanabi Live offers, but the website
has a ton of people, so you will have much better luck finding random pick-up games
there.

Other Players

That's good to hear. In general, Hanabi Live is mostly used by people who
already have a team, so finding quick games with strangers can be difficult. If you
are interested in doing some prep work, I would like to welcome you to play with my
group, the Hyphen-ated Group. We have been playing Hanabi for many years, but
we could always use new players.

Voice Chat

After my group plays a game of Hanabi, we all get together in a voice chat to review
the game. This is important so that everyone can learn from their mistakes and
so that everyone can become more syncronized. As you may imagine, using a voice chat
is much more productive than everyone typing text-snippets at each other.

Voice Chat

That's too bad. Doing post-game reviews without a microphone is a real pain.
Remember that if you do not have a desktop microphone or a headset,
you can also use the Discord app on a cell phone.
If you don't have a cell phone, you could always grab a cheap microphone from a local
electronics store.

Some Basic Conventions

If you try to play with our group and don't understand what our clues mean, things
won't go well. We ask that you spend some time and read the
Hyphen-ated Group beginners guide
. It shouldn't take all that long. And the guide has further instructions about
how to get games going with members of the group.

Buy Hanabi
Hanabi is designed and created by Antoine Bauza. This site is fan-made and has
no official affiliation to him or any of the real-life publishers of the game. If you enjoy playing
the game online, then you should consider purchasing a physical copy of the game.

Make the World a Better Place
Hanabi Live is hosted free of charge and does not have any advertisements.
If you enjoy the website and want to help out, then first consider purchasing a physical
copy of the game (see above). Second, consider donating a portion of your income to the
top-rated charities in the world. (GiveWell is widely regarded as a pretty good organization
for assessing which charities are good.) Scott Alexander has a pretty convincing essay on
why donating even $5 to charity is better than a lifetime of participating in activist politics.

Settings

Notifications

Show a desktop notification when it reaches your turn
Play a sound when a move is made
Play a sound when a timer is below 10 seconds